Garage rockers Amy Gore & Her Valentines’ new CD may be called “In Love” but that doesn’t mean the subject matter is all wine and roses -- but it does come from the heart.

“Sometimes having friction with people in my life seems to spark my creativity,” said Gore.

The 12-song package was produced, engineered and mixed by Al Sutton, who is best known for his work with Kid Rock. It includes a number of special guest artists such as Luis Resto, who’s worked with Eminem and Was (Not Was), funk guitarist Dennis Coffey and Jesse Paris Smith, daughter of the legendary punk rocker/poet Patti Smith.

Long known as one of Detroit’s leading front women -- she’s been in the Gore Gore Girls and teamed up

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with fellow female stalwart Nikki Corvette for Gorvette and has toured nationally with the likes of The Cramps and Blondie -- Gore said the title of “In Love” is a flash card for where she’s at in life right now.

“I think it encapsulates the record, the whole band I’m working with now and being in love with the whole idea of our songs and what we’ve got going right now,” she said.

Her Valentines includes Jackson Smith on guitar -- another child of Patti Smith and formerly of St. Clair Shores -- former Von Bondie’s bassist Leann Banks, and drummer Joe Leone. They got together in early 2011 after Gore had compiled some new material on her own and booked them for a one-off spot for the Metro Times Blowout festival. The group found they enjoyed working together, with Smith in particular contributing to the songwriting.

Much of the material from “In Love” came while she was playing guitar with Corvette but over the past year, she’s become more focused on her own songwriting. Most of the songs are dynamic and fall into her garage rock style, but Gore did stretch out artistically with Sutton’s sage advice.

“This was kind of an undefined territory for me working with a musician the level of Jackson Smith, which was definitely a treat, but when we were coming down to doing the album, Al Sutton told me ‘You need a ballad and you need a song with a different tempo.’ If you look at my history, I’m more of an up-tempo rocking lady -- I usually don’t do ballads,” she said.

The resulting ballad was “Remember Me,” an acoustic-based ditty about the glory of falling in love, while the different tempo tune turned out to be “Cadillac,” which she says has “more of a swingy feel.”

The meat of the CD is barreling-down-the-highway attitude-filled rockers such as “Drivin’ Around” and “Fine Without You.”

“Fine Without You” is the record’s second video (“Drivin’ Around” being the first). Directed by David Krieger, “Fine Without You” was filmed at Lager House in Detroit with Gore posing as a diner waitress who is pushed around by her overbearing boss until she blows him off. The video quality is crisp, clear and colorful and Gore said she had a “blast” making it.

Going back to her love of friction, Gore said “Fine Without You” definitely was inspired by a real-life situation.

“There was a person in my life who was driving me nuts, just screwing up a good situation, and I was trying to get through to this person and change the situation and it wasn’t happening,” she said. “I had to finally say to myself ‘you have to get away from this’ and I felt guilty and had some bad dreams. This song came out of all of that.”

The band will unveil “In Love” with a record release party Oct. 13 at the Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. Since Jackson Smith is on tour, Franklin Hambone Jr. is filling in on the guitar duties for this and other upcoming live shows.

Also performing at the release party are Duende and J. Walker and the Crossguards. Showtime is 8 p.m. and a $10 admission includes a free copy of the CD. For more information call 313-961-4668 or visit

thisisamygore.com.

Meanwhile, two other notable Detroit rock bands -- Citizen Zero and Core Effect -- will also show off new material with a joint CD release party on Oct. 12 at Ferndale’s Magic Bag Theatre.

For Citizen Zero, it’s an emotional venture as their sophomore EP “Life Explodes” includes guitar work on two songs by the late Matt Dudley of Rochester Hills, who passed away in April. Citizen Zero was founded in 2010 by Matt along with his brothers Greg on bass and John on drums, and lead vocalist Josh Mayle.

“This EP is dedicated to Matt Dudley,” Mayle said in a news release. “We were fortunate enough to have him play on two of the six tracks. We miss him, and hope we did him proud.”

Guitarist Sammy Boller is now on board as the newest Citizen.

“Life Explodes,” which also was produced by Al Sutton at his Rustbelt Studios in Royal Oak, is dressed up by contributions from Sponge’s Vinnie Dombroski, Twisted Brown Trucker lead guitarist Marlon Young, and vocalist Herschel Boone.